i made it

It’s not everyday that you plan to travel 650 kms on your own, in a single day on a two wheeler. And you make such crazy plans when you go to nearby places like Araku, Yarada or Yanam with friends on bikes and it turns out to be a lot of fun. And on one such trip it struck me that I could go to my parents place in Hyderabad on bike. Since the time this thought was born, every single time I hit the road, the thought of the journey would cross my mind. Every night before sleeping the trip would be on my thoughts.

When I had decided I would make this trip, I didn’t know the problems I could face, and when every night I used to think about this trip, a new problem my mind would create. Convincing parents one, carrying the luggage another, handling the bike and taking proper care on the dangerous highway were the problems of their own kind. And convincing parents was a daunting task. It took quite some explanation from my side to let them allow me to come driving. This trip needed to be executed in two phases. Phase 1: Transporting my luggage (because obviously carrying a suitcase on bike, wasn’t a good idea). Phase 2: Transporting myself. So for Phase 1, after requesting some of my friends, one guy Naveen agreed to carry my luggage to Hyderabad by train, so he did and thus I was left with one bag, which I could comfortably wear on my back. With Phase 1 successfully completed the trip had become 90% confirmed, all I needed was some determination and some presence of mind to make it happen (successfully).

Well, yeah, I planned it, and I made it. Vizag to Hyderabad on my Apache RTR 160. The idea struck me in the cold days of December but I executed it after 5 months, during the hot days of May. The excitement was high but as the d-day started approaching mind started playing games with me: The heat is too much, The distance is a lot, You are alone, The machine and the road can’t be trusted. But I hung on to what became the experience of a lifetime.

On the wee hours of 11th May I started my trip from Vizag. I had planned to sleep early on the 10th night, wake up early and start, but the excitement and the nervousness had different plans. Was just lying on bed from 10pm trying to sleep, but your thoughts don’t leave you when you want them to. And finally at 2am I gave up, and decided to leave for the road. At 2:40 I was on my bike on the NH5, with no sleep but a lot adrenal and my i-pod plugged into my ears at full volume.
The plan was to travel slow, but consistently with break of 20-30mins after every 100kms. Driving between 60-70kmph my first stoppage after traveling 132kms was Tuni which I reached at 5:10 in the morning, the sky being still dark.
When you make plans like these, you take many opinions and apply a few, and this was one opinion that I applied, giving rest to bike after every 100kms, so that the engine doesn’t die. Because I knew I can overcome the difficulties my body create, but handling the bike’s nuances would be tough. So I resumed at 5:38am. Rajahmundry was 80kms away and that was my next stoppage, which I reached at 6:50am after traveling 225kms at about 70-80kmph.
Thinking about the days when I was planning this journey, and you don’t make trips like these all alone, and a couple of my friends were supposed to come with me, on their respective bikes, but one of them, Umesh changed his plan and the other, Asad lost his guts, and me discouraged with the thought that I will be making this trip alone, but the words of my brother boosted my confidence, “When you are going at a speed of 100kmph, your bike is your best friend.” And I realized it on the road that day that he was right.
Vijayawada was my next main halt 200kms away, which I reached at 11:40 traveling at 80-90kmph, but crossing the city took an entire hour, and I decided to stop in a nice hotel and for some hours and allow the heat to decrease a little. Had lunch and slept for a couple of hours in an A1 hotel with the same name which comes after crossing Vijayawada on NH9. The heavy lunch, tiredness of the journey and the heat outside made me fall asleep instantly on the couch at the reception, I know sleeping at reception hall isn’t the right thing, but if you haven’t slept for 36 hours straight and driven about 400kms, this could be considered as an exception. After 2 hours of real peaceful sleep under the AC and with clock ticking at 3:15 and odometer reading at 410kms I started once more for my destination, but was unaware of what awaited ahead. The distance I covered from 3-6pm was a torture, with the Sun and Earth both showering their love for me in the form of intense heat. The wind was like one from a hot boiler and the highway was a fire-track, but your home 250kms away you don’t feel like stopping. Patience kept decreasing and speed kept increasing traveling at 90-100kmph and enduring the fireballs from the sun and the hot blowers from the road with two stoppages, I entered Hyderabad at 7:30, but it took another 90 minutes of driving in the traffic to reach my house and thus ended the 18 hours journey.

Sans the duration of 3-6pm the entire trip was a real pleasure, all you need is some passion for driving, a dependable bike and a nice collection of songs in your i-pod.

A journey like this teaches you, you don’t need company everywhere, and if deep within yourself you believe you can do it, then you can do it, no matter how much ever people discourage you.